Top row, Nick Ericksson and Joanna Mountain; Second row, Chao Tian and Alena Shmygelska; And third row, Joyce Tung and David Hinds.

David Hinds, a Principal Scientist here, spoke about the study, filling in for 23andMe’s Senior Director of Research, Joanna L. Mountain. Unlike many other pharmacogenetic studies that focus on very small cohorts, this study included more than 2,400 individuals who reported that the opioid codeine triggered vomiting. The study had about 10,000 controls, or individuals who reported no problems taking the pain medication.

Beyond the relative robustness of the study, the research is also significant in that it looked at the genetics behind moderate side effects to a prescription drug. Rarely done in pharmacogenetic studies, moderate side effects still play a huge role in the relative effectiveness of medication because they impact whether people actually use the drug as prescribed.

Nick Eriksson, a Principal Scientist at 23andMe, also spoke at the conference. Nick described how 23andMe uses correlated phenotypes to functionally classify different genetic associations. On occasion, a single genetic variant will be associated with multiple different phenotypes. For example, this occurs in autoimmune diseases, where a single SNP influences multiple different diseases. Sometimes these shared associations are more surprising, such as the genetic association shared by both Parkinson’s disease and baldness.

By leveraging the huge range of phenotypes that 23andMe customers have reported, we can search for other surprising shared associations and use those to cluster SNPs in functional categories. This in turn can give insight into the function of disease associated genetic variants. Using this method, we looked at correlations between breast cancer and breast size, body mass index and food choice, and hair color and skin cancer.

Privacy Statement

Additional Info.

Note that past blog posts may reflect versions of the product that may not be available currently. To learn more about our current product offerings please visit 23andMe.com. We invite your comments, but please be respectful. Abusive comments may be moderated. For help or questions visit Customer Care. Our contributors are scientists, researchers and writers here at 23andMe. We’re interested in helping people explore their own DNA and what it can tell them about themselves. Learn more at our website or check out our store!